Ultrabook Recommendations
Discussion
The 13" Macbook air i5 is available for £850 in the Apple refurb store at the moment. £720 for the 11" model.
I would happily buy a refurb Mac over a new windows ultrabook of the same money. The windows laptop may win the "top trumps" specs, but they usually dont compare in terms of build quality.
I would happily buy a refurb Mac over a new windows ultrabook of the same money. The windows laptop may win the "top trumps" specs, but they usually dont compare in terms of build quality.
Bikerjon said:
The 13" Macbook air i5 is available for £850 in the Apple refurb store at the moment. £720 for the 11" model.
I would happily buy a refurb Mac over a new windows ultrabook of the same money. The windows laptop may win the "top trumps" specs, but they usually dont compare in terms of build quality.
Pretty much what I was saying earlier.I would happily buy a refurb Mac over a new windows ultrabook of the same money. The windows laptop may win the "top trumps" specs, but they usually dont compare in terms of build quality.
They really are good laptops.
IATM said:
Effectively the model I have and am using to reply on. I bought mine cheaper but with different spec and even after the alterations I made mine still comes in a lot cheaper than that so I'm well pleased lolGetting to the point it's very well made. Other people on seeing it open and the keyboard layout think it looks like a MacBook to some extent.
The trackpad area is great nice and large in comparison to many others, the solid rear cover means you don't get the twisting, creaking you get with some others.
Now going back to my first comment I bought a cheaper model for around £380 - managers deal it had the mechanical drive 4GB RAM and an i3 chip. AS I do It bits n bobs I had an i5 chip I knew would fit and also I upped the ram to 8GB I found (but cant find the link now will keep looking though) a step by step tutorial for taking it apart its really easy there are 3 rubber feet that twist and remove and then 3 screws that remove and the base come off quite easy - one of the 4 feet remains on.
The point of me mentioning that is that it is an easy machine to work on if you think the fan is getting blocked or want to change the SSD. Whilst mine was a mechanical drive version when I fitted the SSD from my previous machine it was easy to change it flies with it in. There are 2 slots for RAM I simply fitted another 4gb stick I did try an 8gb and a4gb but he machine couldn't cope with it unfortunately.
All in all I really like this machine its towards the large side of ultrabooks mainly feeling "thicker" but it works really well, the screen is clear connectivity is good and battery life is great I charge it use it let it power down then charge again and I get long use out of it. One other thing in its favour because it is "thicker" than others it means it has a standard size Ethernet socket that can be handy in some circumstances.
The keyboard is good I have fat fingers but I find this keyboard easy to work with there is some "flex" in the keyboard but its not at all bad. The keypad looks small in comparison to some others but I think its a good compromise as it has such a large trackpad.
This was not my first ultrabook I had an acer aspire s5-391 before that in comparison that machine was good but build quality was nowhere near it died eventually and needed an lcd cable replacement it was just not possible to buy the part for it or get it fixed at a sensible quote. I then got a Novatech ultrabook which had trackpad problems and wasn't suitable so that was bought second hand and sole second hand within 3 weeks with no financial loss I also briefly had a Asus xenbook on loan for 2 weeks which was great and I managed to borrow a sony vaio for a week. In comparison to the Asus and Sony this Lenovo is a great machine but not as thin/ glamorous/stylish looking, it's more VOLVO than panache it really is a great performer. I would point out that out of curiosity before typing this I got the original hard drive out of the box (I kept it so that if I sell it I will put it back in- maybe) and scanned it, there does seem to be a fair bit of "bloatware" in it so I would guess that it may be a good idea to remove some of it.
Oh mine using a 240GB SSD 8GB RAM and not overloaded with unnecessary crap cold boots in 8 seconds and resumes from standbye in 3, one last thing if you put the cover down the machine goes to sleep if you open the cover within I think its 30 minutes it instantly resumes without any button presses longer than that opening and a brief press of the power button and it resumes, as far as I can recall the Acer and Sony you had to press a button to resume in all cases so the auto resume cover open seems to be something some machines don't have, sorry for rambling on but there it is
Edit just found link to training video of dismantling is now dead link
Edited by daveydave7 on Saturday 25th May 09:31
A bit of a thread resurrection here, as I have exactly the desire for a new ultrabook with very similar needs as the OP - browsing, email, office, music and video, but no gaming.
I'm currently running a Toshiba Satellite Ultrabook. It was wonderful at the beginning, light and fast withe excellent battery life, but almost 3 years of daily, but easy use have not worn well leaving me unimpressed with the make.
Battery longevity has also been a concern - a little over a year to die almost completely.
Two years on, are the recommendations in this thread still valid?
Is there anything new to the market, or just around the corner worth waiting for?
Any further help and recommendation would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Darren
I'm currently running a Toshiba Satellite Ultrabook. It was wonderful at the beginning, light and fast withe excellent battery life, but almost 3 years of daily, but easy use have not worn well leaving me unimpressed with the make.
Battery longevity has also been a concern - a little over a year to die almost completely.
Two years on, are the recommendations in this thread still valid?
Is there anything new to the market, or just around the corner worth waiting for?
Any further help and recommendation would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Darren
Never used one (other than a lark about in a store), but I've heard plenty of good things about the latest MS Surface. Latest models are quite fast, even the entry level one is quite responsive. No ideas on battery life though, and to make it into more of an ultrabook you'd need to buy a keyboard cover.
ZesPak said:
If it's just for surfing, but you like a nice machine, the ASUS UX305FA?
Iirc it's about £700? Spec isn't great, it's similar to the new Macbook, but more ports and better price.
Get an Asus Zenbook UX303 if the 305 spec isn't what you need. I bought ine recently for £699. Just upgraded the RAM to 12GB and added an extra 128GB SSD.Iirc it's about £700? Spec isn't great, it's similar to the new Macbook, but more ports and better price.
AlexS said:
What is your budget?
I have an HP Spectre x360 which covers size and performance requirements. Fantastic screen, full sized keyboard, oversized track pad and full metal frame. The tablet fold is a bit of a gimmick but doesn't detract from it being an excellent laptop.
Ditto, great laptop.I have an HP Spectre x360 which covers size and performance requirements. Fantastic screen, full sized keyboard, oversized track pad and full metal frame. The tablet fold is a bit of a gimmick but doesn't detract from it being an excellent laptop.
Actually probably the first that makes me understand a little bit why fanboys exist, incredibly frustrating to hear people (who freely admit they've never tried it) say "yeah, it's probably nearly as good an an air, but I like good screens and keyboards". I've tried both you bellends, and this one is much nicer (with the exception of the OS, though frankly I think OS X is a bit overrated too, but if you prefer OS X then obviously that's going to affect your choice). Ahem.
Thanks for the recommendations 
I'll do some thorough research in to those models mentioned.
Budget wise, the Toshiba cost £800-900 IIRC, so a similar budget this time round. I can give or take or little on that for the right machine.
I would say I'm not too much a fan of touch screen devices, and a new machine would preferably be a better spec than this Toshiba (the basics being 128GB SSD, 6GB RAM, Intel i5 1.6GHz). I guess this latter point would be a given, though, considering the rate of progress
Darren
I'll do some thorough research in to those models mentioned.
Budget wise, the Toshiba cost £800-900 IIRC, so a similar budget this time round. I can give or take or little on that for the right machine.
I would say I'm not too much a fan of touch screen devices, and a new machine would preferably be a better spec than this Toshiba (the basics being 128GB SSD, 6GB RAM, Intel i5 1.6GHz). I guess this latter point would be a given, though, considering the rate of progress
Darren
I'm currently very tempted by the latest XPS 13, with the 3200*1800 display.
Got as far as updating my Dell account details before all the outlet refurb models sold out. Bum. I'll keep my eyes open; at current exchange rate, I was looking at ~620 quid. It seems to be better than the air in almost every respect bar SSD throughput...and Apple seem to be using a proprietary interface there and charging correspondingly.
Edit: Just hit refresh to find some in stock, so ordered one.
Got as far as updating my Dell account details before all the outlet refurb models sold out. Bum. I'll keep my eyes open; at current exchange rate, I was looking at ~620 quid. It seems to be better than the air in almost every respect bar SSD throughput...and Apple seem to be using a proprietary interface there and charging correspondingly.
LordGrover said:
I'd avoid the Dell XPS 13 - we have half a dozen or so and they've all failed at one time or another. Mainly USB ports failing so replacement motherboards, two HDDs failed and several batteries overheated/died. All sorted under Dell's excellent warranty but frustrating nonetheless.
Ouch. How old were they? Both when they failed and what generation?Edit: Just hit refresh to find some in stock, so ordered one.
Edited by jimmyjimjim on Wednesday 26th August 07:56
Also from Dell take a look at the Latitude E7440. I'm typing this reply on one right now, had it a year through work and it's been excellent. PRetty much the business equivalent of the XPS 13, we ordered 25 and they've been pretty solid - boot up quickly, plenty of grunt for everyday tasks, yet nice and portable. Only a Full HD screen but I'm not entirely sure what benefit a UHD screen is on a 13 inch laptop other than bragging rights in Starbucks.
bodhi said:
Only a Full HD screen but I'm not entirely sure what benefit a UHD screen is on a 13 inch laptop other than bragging rights in Starbucks.
Can't say I'm overly convinced either, will try it in depth and see how I get on in the comfort of my lounge, miles from the nearest Starbucks. The reviews seem to rate it, though, and I'm used to (and would miss) HD screens - currently working at 2560*1600.T5SOR said:
Get an Asus Zenbook UX303 if the 305 spec isn't what you need. I bought ine recently for £699. Just upgraded the RAM to 12GB and added an extra 128GB SSD.
Which version do you have and where did you get it.Quite fancy one myself but struggling to find one with the right spec.
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